Economic Decisions, Attractiveness, and Intrasexual Competition during Menstrual Cycle in the Ultimatum Game

Abstract

Introduction: it seems that, in the phase of greatest fertility, women’s intrasexual competition (toward attractive women who live nearby) increases due to access to resources, status, and biologically desirable partners. Objective: to compare the economic decisions (ED) during the ovulatory (OP) and luteal (LP) phases of the menstrual cycle (MC) with exposure to two stimuli: a photograph of a more attractive woman and a photograph of a less attractive woman, through the ultimatum game (UG). Methodology: the research followed a cross-sectional design between subjects to see group differences by contrasting hypotheses. The sampling was probabilistic, with a sample of 100 heterosexual women, students at a public university with an age range of 18 to 24 years, with regular MC, who did not use hormonal contraceptive methods and did not have any endocrine condition. The inverse counting method with confirmation was applied to identify CM phases; and the UG to evaluate the DE. Results: the phases of the MC had no effect on the ED; the women behaved similarly in their decisions, regardless of the phase of the cycle they were in or the type of stimulus to which they were exposed. Conclusion: OP and LP do not affect the ED of women when they are exposed to an attractive stimulus. The discussion is made considering the evolutionary theory of the ovulatory shift hypothesis.